Lakers’ Austin Reaves ‘Can’t Wait’ To Watch Bronny James ‘Make A Career For Himself’

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves “can’t wait” to watch Bronny James “make a career for himself.” Bronny, of course, is the son of NBA icon LeBron James. 

“I also can’t wait to see Bronny grow,” Reaves said via Nicole Ganglani of SB Nation. “Obviously, he gets a bad rap because of who his dad is. Everybody’s going to hold him to the standards of his dad when the kid just wants to play and have fun and create his own path so I can’t wait to get around him and see him grow and ultimately make a career for himself in his own way.”

Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest last year. He fully recovered and played for USC this past college season, averaging 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.2 blocks while shooting 36.6% from the field, 26.7% from beyond the arc and 67.6% from the free-throw line.  

The Lakers drafted Bronny with the 55th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Bronny signed a four-year, $7.9 million contract with Los Angeles. 

Bronny averaged 3.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 25.0% from the field and 25.0% from beyond the arc in two California Classic Games.

Bronny then averaged 8.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks while shooting 35.0% overall and 15.8% from 3 in four games in Las Vegas during Summer League. 

Being the son of LeBron isn’t easy. One negative report already came out about Bronny receiving special treatment during Summer League, although Lakers Summer League player Blake Hinson fired back at the rumor. 

“No. Where is that at? Honestly, you know how it is. Stuff like that doesn’t really shock me,” Hinson told Trevor Lane and Matthew Peralta of Lakers Nation. “But we need to figure out if that’s even true because to be totally honest with you, as far as his treatment, he was just a normal guy.

“He just played basketball, he really stays out of the way. He’s a cool dude. I don’t really understand how something like that came out. So that’s nonsense to me.”